The time to move towards robust eLearning and institutional design models that support smart teaching is no longer a quest for the future, but an initiative of the past. Yet resistance still exists. New factors have emerged as driving forces in the adoption of innovative technologies for learning and surviving
The time to move towards eLearning and smarter learning paths is not only upon us, the time is yesterday. Late adopters of eLearning methodologies in institutions of higher education fail in creating environments for students using best practices of synchronous and asynchronous environments can face significantly lower student enrollments, resentment from students desiring more technology in the classroom and a failure to draw competitive candidates. To prevent this from happening, traditional institutions of higher education need to adapt to the ever-changing landscape and utilize instructional designers to help solve problems. Faculty in many cases require a just in time style of design thinking in order to effectively and quickly deliver eLearning content. Circumstances such as inclement weather days, scheduling conflicts, and low student enrollment, are often drivers of this stray from the norm in content delivery.
Popular and useful trends that can be essential in a reversal of resistance are tools and applications such as Artificial Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), small blocks/ modules of learning or micro-learning, apps, gamification and game-based learning. These tools help faculty to engage in innovative teaching strategies that support evolving pedagogical frameworks and utilize much needed educational technologies.
The purpose of this discovery session is to present emerging technologies to promote active learning while addressing the role instructional design and eLearning technologies have in higher education. We will discuss techniques to use to overcome faculty resistance to eLearning.
Attendees will learn about new trends in eLearning and instructional design and ways to approach resistant or reluctant faculty. This session will also address how to avoid the use of outdated technology to bring the classroom to life while stepping away from traditional lectures aided by a PowerPoint slides. Lastly, the discussion will showcase atypical scenarios where eLearning solutions were used to solve non-traditional student facing situations.